Contents

Introduction 2

Historical outline 3

The New Look 4

The Private Sector 7

Public Examination System 8

Schools 10

Teachers 12

Further Education 13

Higher Education 15 
 
 

 

     

     “One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year....... It is in fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside form stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom.” 

     Albert Einstein

     “The English education system is decentralized, untidy and, compared with European systems, unique in its relative freedom from control by the central government.” 

     A. Griffiths Secondary School Reorganization in England and Wales Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1971

     “In a country situated politically and socially as England is, Government has, ordinarily speaking, no educational duties, except towards those whom destitution, vagrancy, or crime casts upon its hands.” 

     Newcastle Report 1861

     "Education is too important to be left in the hands of the teachers"

     Kenneth Baker, Minister of Education

Introduction

     Because education is concerned not only with teaching basic skills but also with passing on the culture and values of society it often becomes a burning political issue, particularly in times of rapid political or social change and uncertainty. What is taught in the classroom, how it is taught and how success and failure are measured are all influenced by political considerations.

     The government of the day controls education in Britain ( as it does in Sweden). either directly through Acts of Parliament or indirectly through the orchestration of public opinion. As Britain is a liberal democracy the government also responds to - or at least takes note of - the will of the people expressed mainly in the mass media.

     A successful and acceptable education policy is particularly difficult to enact. This was especially true in the latter half of the twentieth century. The fact that everyone has experienced some form of education makes everyone an expert, and a biased one at that. Convictions based on individual experience and prejudice are not always a sound foundation on which to build government policies. It is also difficult in the “post-modern world” of shifting values for governments to formulate policies that will ensure that children receive the kind of education that will fit them for “life”. 

 

     

Historical outline

     Education, of course, has always existed in Britain in some form. In the Middle Ages particularly from the fourteenth century onwards there were all kinds of schools to be found which gave their pupils an elementary education. There were small informal schools run in parish churches by parish clerks and schools attached to various religious foundations such as cathedrals, chantries and monasteries. The craft guilds educated their apprentices (as shown in the picture) and there were also guild schools in addition to preparatory schools for grammar schools and grammar schools themselves, such as the one in Stratford-upon-Avon which Shakespeare attended.

     There were also private foundations such as Eton College founded by Henry VI in 1440 and "Seinte Marie College of Winchestre" established in 1382 by William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, so that pupils could have a proper grounding in Latin before they went on to one of the colleges in Oxford.

     Oxford, first mentioned as a centre of learning in 1163, was soon well established. Cambridge became the second centre of learning when a group broke away from Oxford to set up their own their own institution in 1229. By the middle of the 13th century both were doing so well that they considered themselves second only to Paris. At this point the first colleges - University College, Oxford in 1249 and Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1284 - were formally established. These and other Oxford and Cambridge colleges were initially founded as seminaries for the Church where the sons of poor men could receive an education that would fit them for a life of service to the Church and the state.

     At this time the kings of England relied on the church to provide “clerks”  who, because they could read and write - unlike most of the kings and nobility - could deal with the day-to-day administration of the state.

     By the sixteenth century, however, they had become more like finishing schools for the sons of the gentry reflecting a wider change in society as the administration of the state moves out of the hands of the church into that of the landed gentry.

     It is interesting to note that the link between Oxford and Cambridge and the government of the country that was established so early on remains to this day.

The New Look

     It was not to be expected that major changes to such a fundamental thing as a state education system could be achieved without friction and the new Acts did generate a great deal of tension. Education is often a major political issue and as such is subject to constant change and re-evaluation. What is a burning issue today becomes a generally accepted and uncontroversial position tomorrow. Much of what was controversial has now become normal practice but a great deal of bitterness and conflict was generated. OFSTED inspections particularly caused a great deal of strain among teachers and even now are the subject of serious debate.

     Many teachers felt that the government had undermined their professional status and had seriously damaged the state system of education to further its political philosophy. Teaching almost lost the status of a profession and became merely one of many skilled occupations and certainly not one of the highest paid or most prestigious. In 1979 teachers' salaries were 37% higher than the average white-collar wage by 1990 they had fallen below it.

     Those teachers who belonged to a union - there are five teachers' unions - also found themselves confronting the government's policy of curbing the power of the trades unions. There was a very long period of industrial action between 1984 and 1987 which resulted in new laws governing teachers' pay and conditions, under which teachers lost the right to negotiate with the government about salary levels. In addition teachers were to work a stated number of hours , 1255 each year according to a contract, all teachers were to be appraised and increased incentive allowances were to be awarded to "good" teachers.

     The tone of these changes upset many teachers who felt that they were being treated like naughty children who could not be trusted to do a job properly. While there were of course some lazy teachers most of them worked many hours of overtime outside the classroom organizing such things as football matches, various clubs and societies and trips abroad, often without extra pay. The attitude of the Government, implicit in the 1987 Act, alienated many of those working in state education and was not the best foundation on which to build a new system. In the years following 1987 teachers' pay increases were barely above the inflation level while the managers of industry awarded themselves 28% increases. The message was clear!

     There was a feeling that too much stress was placed on those achievements which are easily measurable at the expense of subjects which are important for the development of the pupils' personalities or ability to function in a social setting - which are not so easy to test and measure.

     Standard Assessment Tests at the ages of 7,11 and 14 took a lot of preparation and administration time. Many parents were unhappy with the idea of testing 7-year-olds. The designing, organization and marking of tests seemed to become a major industry with a life of its own.

     There was also a feeling that the overall aim was to make the state system as much like the private system as possible in its methods , aims and objectives.

     At the same time education has been opened up for discussion and debate. Never before has so much information been available, in the visual media and in print, about exactly what goes on in schools.

     Wales

     Education in the principality of Wales is organized in the same way as in England with the addition that the study of Welsh is part of the national curriculum in state schools. There is also a Welsh focus given to other subjects such as history and geography. Very few schools in Wales have opted out of LEA control and there are only two sixth-form colleges. Thus most sixth-formers are educated in local authority schools. There does not seem to have been the same confrontation between professionals and politicians in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland as there has been in England.

     Scotland

     The state system of education in Scotland has always been different in organization from that in England. It was one way in which Scottish independence has been preserved. Scotland was not enthusiastic about Thatcherism and there was less dissatisfaction with the schools.

     Scotland has the smallest overall pupil teacher ratios and the highest proportion of 16-year-olds continuing their education - over three-quarters in 1990/91, much higher than elsewhere in the United Kingdom.The national curriculum does not apply to Scotland and parents have the legal right to withdraw their children from testing at aged 8 and 12. So far no school has opted out of local education authority control but the government has plans to reform local government to break up Strathclyde and Lothian , the power bases of the Labour Party in Scotland. Teachers, and others, in England particularly see in Scotland a more balanced and successful system functioning with much less strain and stress than in their own part of the UK.

     Since Scotland became more independent with the devolution of certain government powers from London to the Scottish Parliament they have continued with their own educational ideas.

     Northern Ireland

     In Northern Ireland the integration of the Catholic and Protestant communities has been the central idea behind educational reform. The province has kept the system which selects pupils at secondary level with an examination at 11+ which may explain why it has the best examination results at 18 and a relatively high proportion of pupils who leave school without any qualifications at all. The Province has its own common curriculum designed to promote tolerance and understanding between the religious groups.

     It includes six compulsory cross-curricular themes designed to teach children the differences between Protestants and Catholics and try to overcome divisions. Two of these themes are education for mutual understanding and cultural heritage. Pupils in Northern Ireland study six subject areas - English, maths, science and technology, environment and society, creative and expressive studies (art, music, crafts etc.) and languages - as opposed to the ten subjects that are taught in England and Wales. The syllabus for religious education has been drawn up by the four main churches The approach gives the teachers more flexibility and reflects the moves towards a broader curriculum that had already started in the Province before 1988. There is statutory testing at 8, after four years of schooling. The schools in the Province are controlled by area education boards (5 of them in 19993) which are funded by central government. Sixty per cent of the members of these boards are nominated by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Only schools where there is religious integration are allowed to opt out and as so few schools are integrated it is not surprising that by 1993 only five schools previously funded by the boards had opted out It has been claimed that under the present system Catholic schools are consistently underfunded but the boards themselves say that they are doing a great deal to further mutual understanding. Meanwhile expenditure per head on education is higher in Northern Ireland than in any other part of the UK - after Northern Ireland come Scotland, England and Wales in descending order.Everything has changed!

The Private Sector

     "The British Empire may have been won on

     the playing fields of our public schools, but

     industrial and commercial vitality is being

     lost there now."

     (Will Hutton The Guardian Monday May 17 1993)

     Private education in anything-but-public schools still plays a very important part in British society. While it is true that only a small proportion of children, around 7%, actually attend these schools their influence permeates all the institutions which exercise power in the country. It can and is argued that parents must have the right and freedom to choose the education they want for their children, and pay for it if necessary. But in Britain today parents who buy a place in a private school are buying a ticket to success.

     There are problems connected with this. Firstly the private schools are exclusive - they exclude those who cannot afford to pay fees and those who do not conform to their requirements, academically, socially or otherwise. These ex-pupils then go on to high-level jobs (most of them) involving making decisions affecting the whole of society while at the same time remaining an exclusive group, part of but at the same time separate from the rest of that society. This allows them, for example, as senior executives in the midst of a severe recession when pay rises for those lower down the ladder are severely restricted , to award themselves rises of 23%+. Such people can have little sense of belonging to the same society or of having obligations to their employees.

     Secondly it is arguable whether it is best for society that parental income should decide who is to be educated for leadership.

     Thirdly the private sector schools are "academic". They define their schooling in terms of examination successes - purely in these terms 177 of the "top" 200 schools are private. If this is to be the only measure of success most people in Britain are failures, technical qualifications have little status and anyone going to a state school is penalised. The kind of social apartheid, reinforced daily by watching the royal family and other high-status individuals and opinion-formers sending their children to private schools, created by this freedom of choice cannot be good for a culture of production and shared citizenship.

Public Examination System

     The British education system relies heavily on examinations - both public and within individual schools. Examinations are seen as the fairest way of selecting candidates for universities, jobs and rewards generally. When the government decided that admission to the civil service should be by public examination ( 1870) rather than, as it had been earlier, by influence or payment it was seen as an important move towards a more democratic society. When pupils had to be selected for limited numbers of places in grammar schools the obvious way to do it was through an examinations - in that case the 11+ exam.

     England, Wales and Northern Ireland

     Until 1987 there were two school-leaving examinations for 16-year-olds, the General Certificate of Education Ordinary-level (GCE O-level) for those who attended grammar schools or were more academic. Others took the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE).

     From 1988 onwards these two examinations were merged into the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) usually taken after 5 years of secondary education.

     The GCSE is based on the national curriculum and has differentiated assessment i.e. different papers or questions for different ranges of ability and grade-related criteria i.e. grades are awarded on absolute rather than relative performance. There is a seven point grading scale from A, the highest grade, to G. There is also an A* grade for outstanding papers. In the UK in 1994-5 94% of all pupils achieved one or more graded GCSE results.

     In Wales the examination at 16 is called the Certificate of Education and closely resembles the GCSE.

     Those pupils who want to continue their education after 16 can either go to a further education college or stay on in the sixth form of the secondary school. In either place they will take Advanced-level examinations after two-year courses in three or four subjects. This examination is used to select students for university places. It is graded on a seven-point scale from A to E with N as a narrow failure and U as unclassified. It was felt in the 1980s that 16-18-year-olds had too narrow an education so a new examination was introduced, the Advanced Supplementary level (AS-level), corresponding to about half an A-level course and graded A to E.

     A-level is an important examination for a young person's future. Because education is such a political issue in the UK the government is constantly making changes and adjustments.

     Scotland

     Scotland has its own system of examinations. After four years of secondary education, at around the age of 16, pupils take the Scottish Certificate of Education. This is an examination for all types of ability - academic and more practical and is marked according to national standards of performance. Most pupils take seven or eight Standard grade examinations.

     The Higher grade of the Scottish Certificate of Education is taken one year after Standard grade, when pupils are about 17, and usually in four subjects. In their sixth year of secondary education pupils can take a Certificate of Sixth Year Studies to deepen their existing knowledge or a vocational National certificate - similar to the GNVQs in England and Wales. New courses are currently being developed.

Schools

     There are around 29,000 state schools in Britain, that is schools maintained from public funds; 2,000 schools for pupils with special needs and 2,400 fee-paying independent schools.

     There are about 9.5 million pupils, of whom about 6-7 % are in independent schools.

     The school-leaving age is 16 and about 71% continue to study after that.

     Many secondary schools require their pupils to wear school uniforms.